(semi-open)

[debtor]

Date & Time: January 15th, or whenever
Location: somewhere in the creepy castle/hotel/museum
Characters: Allen Walker, Howard Link, Rosette Christopher, Chrono, and anyone else in the castle who feels like dropping by at any point.
Summary: SOUL SHENANIGANS and whatever else your heart desires. Open to castle antics.
Warnings: ALLEN WALKER IS FINE

[Allen sure is super unconscious suddenly.

And gray. For some reason.]



[And you may have heard someone screaming "I'M FINE" repeatedly at themselves near the castle grounds a short while ago, strangely.]

Comments

[boundbydevotion]

[YOU WERE DOING SO WELL. WHAT HAPPENED.]

[Which is to say after having dragged Allen over to the castle and pleaded with them for somewhere to put him, Link is hovering around waiting to see if his condition improves.]

[soul_sister]

[There's a knock on the door after a while, almost a little timid.]

[boundbydevotion]

[jolts at that anyway, though it wasn't a particularly loud or intrusive sound, pulled out of his thoughts.]

Ah, the door is open. [Though he starts over to go open it himself regardless]

[soul_sister]

[She pushes the door open before he gets too far, peering into the room. She leaves it open enough for Chrono to squeeze in next to her, but doesn't enter yet, herself.

She starts to ask if he's okay. But she knows the answer to that. Instead:]

What happened?

[At the Hotel]

[soul_sister]

[It's long after the meal had finished in the dining area. Long after she'd helped with the dishes and sweeping up in the kitchen. Rosette was leaning back in one of the chairs, both boots on the table, and cleaning one of her guns with a sort of meticulous care that belayed the casual sprawl she adopted.

She's humming while she works.]

[senseandcecilbility]

[Oh no, was algebra too much of a shock?

Wait, he should stab him.

No. Wait. He can't stab him.]

MASTER WALKER, WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU?

[He will just scream instead.]

[soul_sister]

Don't shriek! Don't... How do you even get that shrill!?

[senseandcecilbility]

My apologies, sister!

[It is not a shrill! It is his beautiful FukuJun voice!

But he is certainly kneeling down to examine the poor young man. Is he going to live?]

[debtor]

[From the look of him, you'd almost think he was just enjoying a nice, if ill-timed, nap — except for the sheen of sweat on skin which has recently acquired a rather unhealthy, unnatural hue. Or rather, lack of a hue.

He doesn't stir even slightly, despite Kevin's shrill shrieking.


Yes, it was algebra. Algebra did this.]

[Dive thread.]

[soul_sister]

[Arguments had been had, concerns vented, but in the end, Rosette laid out the equipment. Allen Walker had been placed under a cross barrier, arms stretched out, and crosses at head, toes and both hands, pinning him down, just in case. The machinery of the dive covered his eyes and bared chest, working over the scars there. Finally, she took one last look around at the anxious and concerned around her.]

Fifteen minutes. That's it.

[And covered her own face with the visor, and turned on the machine. Instantly, she dropped away from her own body in a flash of indistinct light and greater darkness... before sinking deep into Allen's soul.

She took a deep breath, going as far as she could down, until her 'feet' met ground. She opened her eyes.]

[JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE SOUL]

[debtor]

[Rosette is deposited at the entrance of a decidedly vintage traveling circus.

A thin sheet of snow blankets the dusty ground as more heavy flakes drift down from the white sky above, and a circle of tents and wagons of various sizes and colors, and states of disrepair, stretches out in front of her. Several yards ahead lies a gray big-top, much larger than any other tent around it. There's nearly no activity on the ground, but the 'air' carries the distant sound of laughter, from some unseen audience. Or jeering, perhaps.

Nearly no activity. A few feet in front of her are, apparently, the only two other inhabitants at the moment: a clown, and a little boy. The clown's a tall man, middle aged, in full costume. He's crouched before a boy of around six or seven — dressed in ill-fitted clothes, face discolored by bruises and brown matted hair pulled back in a ponytail. He'll only seem familiar if she looks very, very hard.

Tears stream down the child's cheeks, and the clown wipes them away, offering the boy an empty smile; the man's entire body is visibly shaking. The boy's the one talking, he's begging the clown to take him with him.



And behind Rosette, and indeed surrounding the entire affair, is a rolling golden field of wheat. It extends far, far back without any variation, fading into a sort of amber mist at the horizon. The snow doesn't touch it. It's sunny and soft, inviting almost, but there's something about it, something distinctly unwelcome - it's not supposed to be there.]

[soul_sister]

[She looks back and around them uneasily first. She knows, KNOWS, she'll have to face that. But she needs to know more, first.

Her bare feet stirs no dust or dirt, makes no patterns on the snow patches on the roadway. She didn't know who the clown was... a subconscious protector or a memory, but she couldn't leave this scene alone, either.]

Allen?

[debtor]

["I'll remember it for you," the boy is promising, pleading with the man.

But 'Allen' whirls around and glares up at her the moment she speaks up, wet gray eyes flashing, full of fear or blame (aimed at whom?), and dashes away - into a nearby wagon. There's the sound of shattering glass beside her. Blood dribbles down the clown's head - the second she looks away, he'll vanish.]

mid-dive lenaLEE ARE YOU FOR REAL

[anklets]

[ and just when you all thought the panic to be had here had been, well, had, Lenalee and her hot feet come slamming in through the door, clearly accustomed to being allowed this sort of interruption-- ]

Where's Allen?! Earlier, I heard his voice--

[ --and, given how abruptly she freezes after this demand, not having expected for her quarry to actually be here, not at all, much less spread as though to be crucified, as though hunted down by something even worse than the Crow ]

[overclocking]

[ She will also find Rosette more-or-less strapped to a chair, crucifixes uncomfortably ubiquitous, and a tinydemon pacing in agitation.

Oh and Allen is a Noah.

Chrono jumps as the door hits the wall, eyes wild for a moment as he grapples with nerves pulled tight and ready to snap. ]

— Lenalee.

[ must you tho ]

[anklets]

[ thump

(eyes sliding from Exorcist to Exorcist as though they the magnet to her metal)

thump

(Chrono, Kevin, and Link are muted presence at the back of her mind: they exist but they don't matter most just now)

thump

tenuously, ] What are you doing.

[overclocking]

[ His eyes drift from Lenalee, to Allen, to the cords that connect him to Rosette, prone in the chair. His eyes have made this pass more times than he can count, at this point.

How much does she know? Does she even know anything? ]

... Cleansing a soul of a demon.

[oh hey they're back]

[debtor]

['Fifteen minutes' miiiight have been a bit optimistic. A quarter hour quickly passes and becomes a half, and then a full, and longer still - and both the comatose Noah-host and intrepid soul diver remain unmoving.

It's nearly another thirty minutes before the first sign of life: the gray in Allen's complexion washes away all at once in a sudden rush of (admittedly pale, but still present) color. And with it seems to fade the strongest of those dreadful, skin-crawling demonic vibes.


But he doesn't stir, yet.]

[soul_sister]

[Rosette stirs first. One moment you had to stare at her to see if she was breathing, the next she sits upright in the chair with a deep gasp for air. She struggles against her bindngs to remove the visor.

Those who can, will be able to sense no demonic presense in her soul. Though she looks and sounds exhausted.]

Okay! Let me up.

[boundbydevotion]

[Had already jumped up the moment he noticed Allen's skin going back to normal. He turns when she awakens too, looking hopeful--]

--Miss Rosette!

[maddeninghatter]

[ He will let this fellow Link fuss over Rosette. For now his focus is exclusively on Allen. He reaches for the boy's shoulder and gives it a shake. ]

Allen? Are you all right? Wake up now, if you please!

[ Emily chimes in, helpfully: ]

OR WE'LL WRITE ON YOUR FACE AND PUT YOUR HAIR IN PIGTAILS!

[A DAY OR SO LATER, at a cabin]

[debtor]

[How did Allen find where Rosette and Chrono live?

He didn't, but Timcanpy managed to. Which is how Allen's arrived, after eating and resting and making himself look presentable. And he stands outside their cabin door for a long moment, just studying the wood grain.

Facing somebody who's risked their life to save you from your own mistakes... somebody who's seen inside your very soul...

She's in memories now that she really should not be.

He can't blame her for leaving the castle so quickly. But he needs to see her. He didn't have the chance to say thanks. Or apologize.

At length, he finally does knock, though. Politely.]

[soul_sister]

[There's a pause, a little surprised TO hear anyone or anything. ... And then a moment to check the gun at her hip before pushing back her chair by the fire and making her way to the door.

The door opens in front of Allen, pushing out puff of warm air, tinted with the scent of stew cooking. Rosette's surprise doubles... It's no hunter lost in the cold, or vagabond looking for a place to sleep, but someone familiar.

Her smile dawns, wide and brilliant.]

Allen! Come in!

[debtor]

[The golem on his head right grins back, but Allen's smile is rather subdued.]

Rosette... [ the change isn't a conscious one, but he hasn't tacked 'Miss' onto her name in a while. ] Ah, thanks.

[His cheeks are red from the cold, and he's got a purple stamp of friendship forming on his jaw from the other day. He pauses, glancing behind himself, before stepping inside.]

[boundbydevotion]

[There's also someone else, lurking about nearby, though he seems to be trying to give them the space to talk quietly. He has a bag over one shoulder that seems to be carrying poke-y shaped objects.]